Lake Natron
A soda lake that turns blood red, a pyramid volcano sacred to the Maasai and the nursery of millions of lesser flamingos: Natron is an alien planet at the end of the circuit's worst track.
Suggested stay — 1 to 2 nights
Deep in the rift, against the Kenyan border, Lake Natron pushes chemistry into the unreal: water at pH 10.5, saturated with natron, so caustic it mummifies the birds that drown in it — and so protective that three quarters of the world's lesser flamingos come to nest here, safe from every predator, on soda islets at 40 °C. Depending on season and algae, the surface shifts from pink to orange to deep red. Above it watches Ol Doinyo Lengai, 'the Mountain of God' in Maa, the only active volcano on Earth spitting black carbonatite lava that turns white as it dries.
You get there on a punishing, corrugated track from Mto wa Mbu, two to three hours of rubble through Maasai villages — each sector levies its passage fee, that's how it works locally, budget for it without irritation. On site: a walk to the lake's pools with a mandatory Maasai guide, the climb up the Engare Sero gorge to its bathing-pool waterfalls, and for the hardy, the night ascent of Lengai — six hours of gravel slope for a sunrise over the whole rift.
Don't miss
- The lake's pools at daybreak, lesser flamingos in their thousands in the soda haze
- The Engare Sero gorge and its waterfalls — the most improbable freshwater swim in the country
- Ol Doinyo Lengai as a night ascent (hard, guide mandatory) or simply as the backdrop
- The fossilised hominid footprints of Engare Sero, 10,000 years old
Our tips on the ground
- Carry cash in small notes: the Maasai village passage fees and the local guide (mandatory for the lake and the gorge) are settled in cash, with no card option.
- The track from Mto wa Mbu destroys under-inflated tyres: drop the pressure slightly on the corrugations, and check the spare before leaving the tarmac.
- The basin is oven-hot (often 40 °C): walk to the lake at dawn, save the Engare Sero gorge for the hot hours — its shade and water are your air conditioning.
Our flagship guide — €29
Guide available“Tanzania on Your Own”, the complete edition, is out
10 chapters: day-by-day itineraries, driving and transport, a costed budget and checklists — the same method as our Namibia guide.
The guide is currently written in French — an English edition is in the works.
Before you go
Readers' questions about Lake Natron
Can you swim in Lake Natron?
No — the caustic water attacks skin and eyes; you only approach the pools on foot with a guide. The local swim is elsewhere and it's delicious: the freshwater falls of the Engare Sero gorge, a 45-minute walk up a canyon, where you swim in the middle of a soda desert.
Is the detour to Natron worth the track?
If you're after the Africa of landscapes rather than classic safari, yes, a thousand times: no other site on the northern circuit delivers this visual shock. Route bonus: the track continues to the Serengeti through Klein's gate — the detour becomes a wild shortcut, provided you check the section's condition with the lodges before committing.